Uneasy Rhetoric

Downtown Déjeuner:

Café Dolce *1/2

1200 K St.

$8-9

I wouldn’t survive for very long on the East Coast. When I go out for lunch, the last place I want to go is a place that stresses me out. You see, I don’t like it when my order disappears or is wrong. I don’t like confrontation. This didn’t happen at Café Dolce, but it felt like it might. There was a jumble of bodies at the counter putting orders in and another jumble of bodies taking orders. They all funneled to the cashiers in no particular order. You paid, and somehow you got the right meal, although the cashier might ask you several times what it was you ordered.

Somehow everything I purchased was there. I had ordered the Chicken Dolce, a sandwhich with mustard, ham and chicken. When it came to me it was a smallish sandwhich on a white-bread roll, held together with enfoiled toothpicks, resting on a meat-section like styrofoam platter, and wrapped in plastic wrap. In other words, it looked just like any sandwhich I might pick up at the supermarket.

The sandwhich itself was good but nothing spectacular; again, I’ve had similar fare in a supermarket. It was also small. That plus a bag of chips and a lemonade didn’t quite fill me up.

I wanted to give Café Dolce a higher score because a lot of people go there, and I’ve heard fairly good things. Unfortunately, I wasn’t as impressed as others.

One and a half stars for expensive and unspectacular food, small portions, a stressful environment, and a décor right out of Farrells Ice Cream Parlor. Bonus points because they do have a small, separately staffed, ice cream counter - probably the only thing that will get me to go back.